Mischa Barton has kickstarted a bitter war of words with a paparazzo who snapped her sunbathing topless in Australia.

Barton, 22, is furious images taken by Jamie Fawcett have appeared in an Australian magazine and online. Several snaps show her topless and with cellulite on her thighs.

And the actress has accused Fawcett of disrupting her vacation with her mother Nuala on Hamilton Island, off Australia's East Coast.

She says: "He's a ridiculous human being. I've never abhorred anyone more. I was so angry, I went up to him and said how disappointed I was with his behaviour. He apologised but he was very insincere."

But Fawcett claims he warned Barton about stripping off before he had even captured her on film - and insists she could have found a private spot to seek an all-over tan.He tells the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "We spoke to each other on the island, and that's when I showed her my camera and I hadn't taken any shots of her topless.

"I did warn her it was a public place, and if she wanted privacy she shouldn't be there.

"I'm not a perv, and I didn't intentionally mean to embarrass her. I don't just set out and start my day thinking I want to get any celebrity topless."

Barton isn't the first celebrity to clash with Fawcett; in 2005 he was accused by a newspaper of planting listening devices in Nicole Kidman's Sydney home.

In February this year he lost a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper, after Kidman told a court she feared for her life after being pursued by him - and was forced to employ round-the-clock security for her and her family as a result.

Moral of the story, hit the gym, keep your top on in public and never, ever trust your friendly neighborhood paparazzi.